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We are happy to announce our first official short film "Self Storage". We have been heavily involved in the current preproduction process and are scheduled to shoot the first week of June. The Kickstarter campaign will be launched April 20th and will feature shout outs and news updates on the official "Self Storage" Twitter and Facebook pages. Below you can find a short synopsis of the film.

Self Storage is the idea of one man living in a storage unit in order to escape his problems with the outside world. Chris, played by Adam Blood, mid-to-late twenties, discovers himself to be a creature of habit. He goes about his days with the same old routines working at a storage facility. Eugene, not yet casted, is an older father figure to Chris who owns the establishment. Chris and Eugene often but heads throughout the film, even more so when a new character becomes involved. Hannah, mid twenties, played by Amanda Mengotto, is a struggling artist who may or may not be just passing through her old town for a while. Hannah and Chris also seem to clash yet their fire between one another keeps the relationship both interesting and humorous. Self Storage is a new age American "dramedy" film that intends to evoke emotion in it's viewers and audiences.

We had the privilege of once again working with the incredibly talented River City Extension. Now on their newest tour, 'Deliverance', the crew makes their way cross country to take on numerous amounts of cities and venues. While working with them on a live event we decided to put together a short video to show our gratitude. Below you will find their new touring video, produced entirely by us. Thank you again River City Extension, we can't wait to work with you again on future projects. Good luck on tour, safe travels!

We had the privilege of once again working with the incredibly talented River City Extension. Now on their newest tour, 'Deliverance', the crew makes their way cross country to take on numerous amounts of cities and venues. While working with them on a live event we decided to put together a short video to show our gratitude. Below you will find their new touring video, produced entirely by us. Thank you again River City Extension and we can't wait to work with you again on future projects. Good luck on tour, safe travels!

Chinatown – I’m a sucker for noirs and Chinatown is one of the best.  The script is tighter than (insert tight imagery here), the filmmaking is just as tight as that last bit, and the performances are nuanced (probably tight too but in a naturally tight way).  This was my third time watching the film and my appreciation for it grows with every viewing.  Is it just me or did Roman Polanski seem down in the dumps during this time period?

mRMR Rating: 9.56

  The Imitation Game – Benedict Cumberbatch plays Sherlock Holmes during his attempt to break the Nazi code thing-a-ma-gig.  It’s an engaging true-life story (I’m not a History major so I can’t tell you the validity of anything even though I possess Google and could easily fact-check it), which gives you an appreciation for the work and moral dilemmas that these real people endured.  Though Cumberbatch is the film’s rock there were solid performances all around.  This film will receive the first Grandparents Approved (GA) rating.  I believe I was the only one in the theater who didn’t get a senior discount (they kept rubbing it in) and the audience dug the film.

mRMR Rating: 7.96 + GA

  Keeping the Faith – Ed Norton and Ben Stiller play a priest and rabbi who both fall in love with their childhood friend Jenna Elfman.  This is one of those movies where I’ve seen bits and pieces of it over the years on television and it always fascinated me.  This isn’t an IFR though because I did watch the whole thing.  The film really isn’t that funny nor is it that dramatic but it has a weird completely watchable-ness to it that I can’t put into words (good thing I write reviews, huh).  The characters are all likeable and you want their friendship to last but you want them to find love, ugh.  I don’t know.  I do know that Jenna Elfman is cute as a button in it so there’s that.

mRMR Rating: 7.01

Last Vegas – Surprisingly, out of the four Academy Award winning leads of the film none of them have their best performance of their career in Last Vegas.  However, it does look like they had a fun time filming in Vegas and hanging out.  If you want to see Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, and Kevin Kline on the same screen you are in luck.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the film wouldn’t have been made if they didn’t get that cast though.  It is what it is (aren’t you glad my reviewing style is so eloquent?).  This is easily another GA movie (that was fast).

mRMR Rating: 6.88 + GA

The November Man – Pierce Brosnan plays a spy!  Sadly because he is not playing James Bond the film will not receive the auto-Bond rating of 10.0.  The film also has ex-Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (it seems like this movie is really trying to impress me).  I have a mini Random Movie Review Confession (mRMRC) to make.  I watched this movie a couple months ago and really don’t remember a whole lot of it.  But I think I enjoyed it, probably.  This mRMR rating might be arbitrary.

I always believe that an individual should see the whole movie before they can judge it.  I also believe in double standards so I’m in clear with only seeing parts of half these films.  Reviews are in ABC order of course.

  The African Queen – Not gunna lie, the first ten minutes of this flick are some of the most grating and annoying ever put on film.  Missionaries in Africa are holding a mass with the African tribe singing a hymn.  The singing is purposely discordant and it goes on and on.  Is this scene racist?  Probably but I’m no expert.  After the singing thankfully finishes, the German army takes over the tribe while blasting either horns or drums or both that sound nearly as annoying as the singing.  I started to wonder if John Huston was having a laugh.  After John Huston finished laughing at the audience he decided to reward those who stayed with a nice adventure/romance film with great chemistry from Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

mRMR Rating: 8.02

 Johnson Family Vacation – The first of our incomplete film reviews (IFR).  I only watched one sequence of this movie but I think I get the point.  The (I presume) Johnson Family is in a car on a vacation.  Cedric the Entertainer’s wife must’ve said something that suggested she wanted to have sex (I didn’t quite enter the scene from the start, sorry).  This causes Cedric to make an illegal maneuver to get to a hotel.  When checking in he buys chocolate bunnies, champagne, and a road flare to set the mood in the room.  The hotel employee believes that he is having an affair but he assures her that he’s not.  I haven’t quite expressed how that scene was overlong and devoid of jokes so just take my word for it.  Cedric sets up the room, goes to the hot tub with his wife, she takes his bathing suit off and puts it ten feet away, hot chicks pass, fat chicks get in, he gets sexually assaulted, hotel employee jumps to conclusions and takes his bathing suit, Cedric gets out and walks through the hotel, a wholesome family sees his penis, and the sequence is capped off with Cedric inviting them to play naked Uno.  Was that a run-on sentence?  Maybe, I majored in Motion Pictures not English.  To make this long min review short I’ll just say it’s very hard to describe a bad comedy without repeatedly saying it’s not funny.

mRMR IFR Rating: 2.97

  2 Guns – The second IFR, however I only missed the first ten minutes.  Cut me some slack.  I positioned this one here on the list because I interpreted the “2” as a “Two” and I’m told “T” comes after “J” and before “W” in the alphabet.  Were those quotations necessary? Again, not an English major.  2 Guns stars Denzel Washington as an undercover DEA agent and Mark Wahlberg as an undercover Naval Intelligence Officer.  They both are unaware that the other is undercover.  They rob a bank together and then everything goes wrong with many factions vying for the money.  Bill Paxton hams it up as only he could as the baddie.  The film has fun action and the starring duo work well together.

mRMR IFR Rating: 7.14

Whiplash – Yes, I watched the whole thing.  It’s an intense, engaging film about a drummer who wants to become a drummer with a capital “D”.  JK Simmons steals the show as a manipulative, volcanic teacher.  Miles Teller is no slouch as our leading man.  If you are anti-drumming or percussion I suggest you stay clear of this film.  Otherwise you should see it.  Children may be bored but that is pure speculation.

Hollywood’s biggest party, (and best Oscar foreshadower), the Golden Globe awards, are this Sunday.  It’s a year where no film seems to be pulling away as a clear frontrunner for any award and TV is so competitive we could be in for a very exciting and entertaining show (the Hollywood Foreign Press is known for doing things a little differently anyway).  Plus we get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting, which if prior awards appearances are any indication, should be a very good thing.  Below are my predictions as well as what I think should win on the film side of things.  I have not seen most of the comedies that were nominated, so I decided me predicting and saying what should win would be a bit ridiculous so I left it out (I’m sorry.  It’s my loss in the end).

 Best Drama: Wow, did The Affair storm onto the scene.  With Breaking Bad gone the door opened up for new shows to earn nominations and The Affair found itself the big winner earning nominations for Actress, Actor and Drama.  Now will it win?  House of Cards is the only other show to earn nominations in all three categories so the odds seem like they could be in their favor.  The Good Wife is always nominated and finds itself consistently getting better with age.  Downtown Abbey is the clear longshot here and I’m sure Game of Thrones fans are wondering if this is their year.  Game of Thrones had arguably it’s best season but also its weakest finale and didn’t earn any other nominations from the HFPA so I think this one is going to come down to House of Cards and The Affair.

            Will Win: House of Cards                   Should Win: Game of Thrones

Best Actress Drama:  Remember when Claire Danes couldn’t lose and the world was in love with Homeland?  Sure seems like a long time ago.  This is a very interesting category and I could see any of Robin Wright, Ruth Wilson, Viola Davis or Julianna Margulies winning.  Who does the HFPA choose?  Do they go based on what show they simply liked more when it’s this close?  Do they give it to the consistent Margulies who has won the award once and been nominated five other times including this year?  Does last years winner Robin Wright take it home again or does Ruth Wilson leap onto the scene and pull it out?  And don’t forget that the HFPA loves stars and that is what Viola Davis is at the moment.  To me it’s easy.  I hope the HFPA agrees.

            Will Win: Viola Davis                         Should Win: Ruth Wilson

Best Actor Drama: This is Kevin Spacey’s award this year.  Maybe Clive Owen knocks him aside and pulls it out but I wouldn’t bet my money on it.  Spacey had to carry the second season of Cards and its time Frank Underwood gets what he deserves.

            Will and Should Win: Kevin Spacey

Best Miniseries or TV Movie:  I want to start by saying that The Missing was a tremendous show and I’m glad to see that it pulled out a nominee over American Horror Story, which I have grown bored of.  I do not think The Missing can win though against a string of HBO products and of course Fargo.  Any other year I would say Fargo wins because it was a unique and a thoroughly entertaining series that honed in on the style of the Coen’s expertly.  But True Detective came out this year and that show was a phenomenon.  It has it’s critics who couldn’t stand the dialogue or the way it meandered a bit, but those who love it, LOVE it, and therefore its got this one.

            Will and Should Win: True Detective

Best Actress Miniseries or TV Movie: I would love to see Allison Tolman pull this one out.  She summoned her inner Frances McDormand and gave one helluva performance as one of the only good people on Fargo.  It’s ironic that she is probably going to lose to the one who perfected the quirky female cop role 20 years ago in the film that her show was inspired by.  All I really ask though is that Jessica Lange doesn’t win and that is nothing against Lange, but her character on this season was not worthy.

            Will Win: Frances McDormand        Should Win: Allison Tolman

Best Actor Miniseries or TV Movie:  What a category this one is.  How hard is it to get two nominees in any category let alone a leading role category?  And then on top of that two different shows did it!  Will Mark Ruffalo pull out the win after being the only person nominated from his film The Normal Heart or will someone from Fargo or True Detective pull it out?  At the Emmy’s Mark Ruffalo, Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman all lost out to Benedict Cumberbatch for his work in Sherlock, but Cumberbatch isn’t here to spoil the fun this time.  Instead they get to contend with the Woody Harrelson who really came into his own against the more over bearing and in your face Matthew McConaughey.  Even Bryan Cranston joked that he voted for McConaughey back when he won his final award for Breaking Bad.  This time I think McConaughey will be making the jokes.

            Will and Should Win: Matthew McConaughey

Best Supporting Actress:  At the top of this article I said I hadn’t seen many comedies, but Orange is the New Black was not one of them.  I believe Uzo Aduba will knock off a silly yet good performance from Kathy Bates, and a severely overshadowed yet excellent performance from Michelle Monaghan.

            Will Win: Uzo Aduba                         Should Win: Call me crazy, but Monaghan

Best Supporting Actor: This category comes down to three people.  Matt Bomer, Bill Murray and Colin Hanks.  Hanks wasn’t around all too much at the beginning of the series but when he was on screen he was very memorable.  Was he overshadowed though by all of the other great performances around him?  Bomer was great but The Normal Heart seems to have fallen to second place in terms of HBO films after Olive Kitteridge came out.  The HFPA loves Bill Murray and even gave him a nomination last year for Hyde Park on The Hudson.  That’s enough for me.

Hollywood’s biggest party (and best Oscar foreshadower), the Golden Globe awards, are this Sunday.  It’s a year where no film seems to be pulling away as a clear frontrunner for any award and TV is so competitive we could be in for a very exciting and entertaining show (the Hollywood Foreign Press is known for doing things a little differently anyway).  Plus we get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting, which if prior awards appearances are any indication, should be a very good thing.  Below are my predictions as well as what I think should win on the film side of things.  I did not see all the Foreign or Animated films so I did not pick.  I also did not pick for Score or Song.

  Best Motion Picture Drama: I honestly don’t know how I feel about this category this year.  I feel like all of the films did what they wanted to but is anyone really going back and making sure they see these films two or three times (Foxcatcher I am looking directly at you, you uncomfortable piece of work).  But to me there is no way that Boyhood loses unless Selma finds a way to sneak in for the steal.

            Will and Should Win: Boyhood

Best Actor Drama: This is a tough category to call.  I think Gyllenhaal’s win was his nomination but any of the others could come out on top.  It depends if the HFPA wants to go with a physical performance and award Redmayne or a less physical performance and decide who did a better job at portraying the real life character they set out to be.

            Will Win: Eddie Redmayne              Should Win: Benedict Cumberbatch

Best Actress Drama: Am I the only one shocked to see Jennifer Aniston’s name on the list of nominees for an acting award, let alone one in a dramatic role?  Not knocking her, but when you look at whom she is up against, until this year there wasn’t really any reason to say her name in the same sentence as the others.  Like Gyllenhaal I think her victory is in her nomination and although Felicity Jones was great as Jane Hawking, Eddie Redmayne simply overshadows her.  Reese Witherspoon was the whole movie in Wild, but I think this year it’s going to come down to Julianne Moore’s less seen heartbreaking role versus Rosamund Pike’s more mainstream and villainous role.

            Will Win: Julianne Moore                 Should Win: Reese Witherspoon

Best Picture Musical or Comedy: I think this is the easiest award to predict and although The Grand Budapest Hotel could steal its thunder, this is Birdman’s prize to lose.

            Will and Should Win: Birdman

Best Actor Musical or Comedy: This might be the coolest bunch of guys ever nominated for the award.  Christoph Waltz is loved by the HFPA and has already won a Globe twice.  Bill Murray and Joaquin Phoenix have both taken home awards in this category and have large fan bases.  Ralph Fiennes has been nominated five times and is consistently great in everything he is in including Grand Budapest.  And then there is Michael Keaton who was Batman in the 90s and then played a washed up superhero in the 10s.  I think Fiennes will be the only nominee to not have a Golden Globe victory after Sunday.

            Will and Should Win: Michael Keaton

Best Actress Musical or Comedy: I really don’t know.  Come Oscar time I think maybe the winner here will be the only one out of the nominees to actually find themselves nominated for the top film prize.  Who that will be I am completely uncertain.  I love that Wallis gets nominated for Annie, but not for Beasts of the Southern Wild (yes that is sarcasm).  If that’s not a makeup nomination then nothing is.  I don’t see Julianne Moore winning twice in the same year.  Helen Mirren is well loved but so is Amy Adams and Emily Blunt was solid as always.  The HFPA likes showier performances so I’ll give the edge to Blunt.

            Will Win: Emily Blunt                       Should Win: Amy Adams

Best Supporting Actor:  I’m surprised that Robert Duvall earned a nomination and feel there were better performances out there.  Then you have Edward Norton who was great, Mark Ruffalo who was great, and Ethan Hawke who was great.  The only problem is that they are up against J.K. Simmons, who is more than phenomenal.  I don’t really know what to say about this performance that hasn’t already been said, so instead I will say this:  Go watch Oz, so you can see that J.K. Simmons has just been waiting for the right moment to step out of the shadows and into the limelight.

            Will and Should Win: J.K. Simmons

Best Supporting Actress: I love Keira Knightley but I don’t see her winning this one.  The same goes for Jessica Chastain who seems to get nominated every year but can never get over the hump and win.  Patricia Arquette has been the favorite all year, so for her to lose would be shocking, but the performance that Emma Stone gave came out of nowhere and was shockingly good.  I think it comes down to Arquette and Stone but who could ever count out Queen Meryl especially when she plays as showy a character as she does in Into the Woods.

            Will Win: Patricia Arquette              Should Win: Emma Stone

Best Director:  So Gone Girl gets nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay but doesn’t get nominated for Best Picture, and Selma gets nominated for Best Picture but not Best Screenplay.  I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just a very unusual one for the HFPA.  Anyway everyone in this category did great work this year, but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to Alejandro Inarittu and Richard Linklater.  Both made very innovative films and both of them deserve to win.  But there can only be one.

            Will Win: Richard Linklater              Should Win: Inarittu or Linklater

Best Screenplay: This is the one category where I feel that Boyhood might actually lose.  The film is unique and innovative, but the script is almost a side note to everything else that is going on.  Gone Girl and The Imitation Game, both work well because of their fast paced scripts, but I think this award comes down to two: Wes Anderson and all the guys from Birdman.  Birdman won everything else so why wouldn’t it win this.

            Will Win: Birdman                             Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Introducing mini Random Movie Reviews! After a long hiatus I have come back even lazier than before. Now I offer my two cents on random movies in fun bite size snippets. Follow me on this journey as I channel my inner Robert Christgau and critique a batch of movies that were viewed before, during, and/or after Halloween (in ABC order of course).

Camp Nowhere – Middle school kids trick their parents into letting them go to a camp run by the kids themselves. Doc Brown plays a retired drama teacher who enables the kids and Biff plays a suspicious cop. The movie is a litmus test of how old you are based on how you feel about this whole irresponsible endeavor. The kids engage in wacky antics, struggle with middle school sexual tension, and make the viewers nostalgic for the fashion of the 90s. Its childlike disregard for any consequences makes the movie an enjoyable enough affair that makes you feel only slightly guilty for watching it on TV by yourself.

mRMR Rating: 6.12

Gone Girl – Tyler Perry’s most restrained Madea movie yet. The film is dark, twisty, and cynical yet it offers a surprising amount of humor. I was fully on board for the ride that David Fincher assembled with the support of extremely strong performances across the board. It takes melodramatic Lifetime Original Movie type material and elevates it into an amazing cinematic experience. I will award this film with the very first Streamline Cinema Official Seal of Approval* (SCOSA).

mRMR Rating: 9.01 + SCOSA

John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars – This is not a good movie. However, I’m not sure John Carpenter wanted to make it a good movie. It looks like a bad sci-fi flick shot on video during the 80s with post-apocalyptic steampunk zombies and space marines. The dialogue is stilted, the effects are bizarre, and the flashbacks have their own flashbacks. The whole thing is such a glorious mess that it almost feels like it was intentional. Is this a homage to bad sci-fi films or is it merely one? I honestly do not know. All I know is I was transfixed while watching it. It doesn’t matter if it was by accident; the film won me over goddammit.

mRMR Rating: 7.32

Re-Animator – My feelings on this movie are the complete opposite of my feelings of Ghosts of Mars. This is a good 80s horror movie. The special effects and makeup are fantastically gross, the camerawork and acting are fitting. However, I just couldn’t get into it. I know much of the film is humorous but I didn’t feel like giggling as much as I should’ve. I wasn’t particularly scared though many parts were disturbing. Perhaps I wasn’t swept away with the story because I had to keep pausing the film to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters (while hoping that the parents couldn’t see all the nudity and blood on my television screen). Is it fair to judge since I was distracted while watching? No.

mRMR Rating: 6.25

Sleeper – Woody Allen plays a Woody Allen character not named ‘Woody Allen’ who might as well be, who wakes up 200 years in the future. Woody Allen puts on a fun slapstick showcase in a futuristic setting. Complete with ragtime music, revolutionaries, and a beauty pageant, the film is charming and brief. Diane Keaton plays a character with a PHD in oral sex; I don’t know what more you can ask for.

mRMR Rating: 8.57

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve Eve and I’m sure everyone is already in the holiday spirit (if you’re not then you probably never will be).  I’m sure everyone is probably tired of the onslaught of recycled Christmas movies by now.  Every year our TVs are loaded with the classics, It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Elf, Christmas Vaction, A Christmas Story, etc.  They’re everywhere.  I’m sure some of you have even been suffering through the hideous animation of The Polar Express or the brutal third film in The Santa Clause series just because they are Christmas movies and you feel like you have to.  But there is one film that you will almost never find on your TV around this time of year: Scrooge. 

            Scrooge is a take on Charles Dicken’s classic A Christmas Carol.  Yes, I know everyone already knows the story.  We all know who tiny Tim and Scrooge are.  Bob Cratchit and Jacob Marley are pretty recognizable names and we all know the three ghosts who visit Scrooge.  But the 1951, little seen British film has one thing all of the other versions does not.  That would be Alastair Sim.  Most people I meet have been watching the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol, which is a perfectly fine film, with a strong performance, but trust me when I say that it pales in comparison.  Of course there is the Muppets version and the new Jim Carrey version, which are also fine, but when it comes to Christmas we want more than fine.  We want classic.

            Alastair Sim’s performance is truly iconic.  He goes through all of the typical emotions, yet by the end of the film he isn’t just a happy person.  You will actually think he has gone mad.  His comb over hair is a mess as he screws with his maid, he does head stands, and he giggles to himself over the way his pen is writing. And his performance is the reason why this version has all the heart and less of the sap that other Christmas movies are riddled with.  It’s got heart on the level of It’s a Wonderful Life, (Yes, I’m serious) and I must say that after watching other versions of the same story I am not nearly as moved as I am every single time I watch this one.  We truly feel bad for this monster of a man as we watch his life fall apart in his younger years.  We feel his pain as he watches his sister die and his fiancé leave him.  I know these are plot points that are in every film, but Sim’s performance is something that needs to be cherished.

           Today will mark the release of Foo Fighters 8th studio album Sonic Highways and it feels only right to give credit where credit is due. The Foo Fighters, led by Dave Grohl, have been a staple of the alternative/rock music industry for more than the past decade. Collectively, the band has won four Grammy’s for “Best Rock Album” as well as sold over 11 million copies worldwide. The hype of this new album is through the roof as it should be. The band isn’t hiding much, releasing singles and a track listing including all featured artists, yet it’s hard not to be anxious to hear the collaborative sound of this work.

            I’m going to try and sum up my fan-girl feelings on Dave Grohl as eloquently as possible. If the music industry was porn and musicians were porn stars then Dave Grohl is Ron Jeremy and whatever instrument he’s wielding is his respective genitalia. Does that give enough insight as to what this man has brought to the music industry over the past twenty years? Yea, everyone knows, but it would be blasphemy to write a post about this band and their frontman and not mention that he was the drummer of Nirvana. Yes, Nirvana, like Kurt Cobain Nirvana.

            Foo Fighters being the side project and secret love child of Nirvana’s drummer would seem to gain immediate fame based solely on the artist, but that was not Grohl’s intentions. After the death and Subsequent break up of Nirvana, Grohl took to the studio alone to record 15 out of 40-something songs he wrote while a member of Nirvana. Grohl played every instrument and recorded all the vocals only asking for help once by calling the guitarist of the Afghan Whigs. This 5 day studio session was put on cassettes and sent to friends of Grohl’s throughout the music industry purely for feedback. It was then that not only did he get feedback, but also widespread recognition in the industry. Naturally the next move was to put a band together in order to back the songs he had just recorded. He made it pretty easy on himself, recruiting artists from his area that had just split from their own band Sunny Day Real Estate.

Having just seen “Birdman” it’s safe to say that Oscar season has officially started.  Alejandro Inarritu has been making films that have been receiving Oscar recognition for over a decade, but this is probably the first film that seems like it could actually win (yes, I realize how early we are in the season).  Instead of looking at the best films that won awards or best films to lose at the awards I’m going to take a look at the best five films in the last five years to not even see their names on the list of nominees.  This counts all films all the way back to the year where The Hurt Locker won best picture, though you won’t find any films from that year on this list (although A Single Man was really damn close).  Anyway here we go.

  5. Shame – Last year Steve McQueen took home the best picture prize for 12 Years a Slave, but just a couple of years earlier he made Shame which starred Michael Fassbender on a strange journey through New York as a sex addict.  The material is graphic, and to anyone who has never seen this film or his earlier film Hunger I recommend seeing them before you say that 12 Years is too graphic.  It doesn’t even come close to these two.  Fassbender turns in a heartbreaking performance as a man who doesn’t know how to want anything other than sex.  But when his sister, played perfectly by Carey Mulligan, arrives to live with him his whole world is turned upside down and all of his demons start to come front and center.  He lusts around New York City fucking person after person in explicitly graphic scenes.  The film was rated NC-17 at the time of its release and this probably led to many people avoiding it.  The graphicness of the material may have also turned off some Academy voters, but for anyone who enjoys Indie films that take their time with their story you must see this film.

  4. Drive – This film was just way too stylized for most Academy voters.  Nicolas Winding Refn created a graphically violent film that starred an unnamed Ryan Gosling, as he drove around Los Angeles for people who hired him to drive them to and from crimes.  Much like Shame, the film was probably too graphic for most, but the acting and direction was absolutely stellar.  Ryan Gosling barely talks, but the supporting cast more than makes up for that.  Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, and Ron Perlman costar and Albert Brooks was criminally snubbed for his role as a crime boss in LA.  Watch Albert Brooks in this movie and tell me how the Hell he was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor.  This wasn’t the first time that a Gosling film was snubbed by the Academy, Blue Valentine was screwed in 2010, but that film was more about Gosling’s acting than the film as a whole and it came out in a way better film year than Drive.  That’s why Drive is on this list instead.

  3. Moonrise Kingdom – Poor, poor Wes Anderson.  Will this man ever make a movie that will be nominated for Best Picture?  I’m already assuming that Grand Budapest Hotel will find itself on the list of Oscar snubs this year.  But Moonrise Kingdom was inexcusable.  The film tells the story of two young kids on a remote island that run away to be together.  They think they are in love and in typical Anderson fashion, he doesn’t really draw attention to the fact that this is out of the realm of possibilities.  He makes the audience fall in love with these two kids and you can’t help but laugh as the supporting characters struggle to find them.  The two young stars (Jared Gillam and Kara Hayward) give outstanding performances.  This is a film that I saw four times in theaters, not because I am an Anderson fanboy, but because every single time the film ended I was left with this feeling that no other film has really given me.  Every time it ends, it’s as if the magic has ended and there is a certain depression to the film even though the characters are still seeing each other.  There’s something so romantic about the childishness of the story that filmmakers should aspire to achieve, because these kids aren’t worried about the typical things that couples are worry about in romantic comedies, like who’s fucking who, or will he leave me?  They are only worried about being together and nothing more.  The script was nominated for best Original Screenplay but that is nowhere near good enough.  Moonrise Kingdom is an unforgivable snub.

2. Inside Llewyn Davis – I realize that this could be seen as an unpopular choice, but the reason it is on this list is because it is so real.  While the films so far were either overly graphic or had fantasy elements, Llewyn Davis is gritty and real and never strays from it’s main character and his quest for fame.  If anyone has ever had a dream of being famous or being a star than Llewyn Davis is a character that you can absolutely connect with.  He has no money and struggles to play gigs and get his music heard, but he’s such a prick that he ends up constantly screwing everything up.  The Coen’s created a movie that really showed just how hard it is to become a somebody and why people never give up when they have a dream.  The performances are great, and yes I realize that this is the third film with Carey Mulligan on this list.  Any other year Oscar Isaac may have won best actor, but last year was such a great year for films that actors were being left out like crazy (Tom Hanks and Joaquin Phoenix to name two).  It was a stacked year and Inside Llewyn Davis was simply too different to find itself among the nominees.  That does not take away from the fact that it was a fantastic movie, with the typical Coen quirks in an otherwise very serious situation.

In light of Halloween and Shia LaBeouf's most recent and outstanding interview on Jimmy Kimmel I felt it only necessary to post short film Maniac.  A drunken late night bar talk brought this short into one of my conversations recently, and I'm thankful I remembered it.  I never knew Shia made a short, and more importantly one to this stature.  Check out this amazing ten minute thriller Directed by LaBeouf.

As Halloween fast approaches and television channels become inundated with horror films, it seems as good a time as any to discuss some of the best horror films the genre has to offer. One such film is Ti West’s masterpiece “The House of the Devil”. West has been turning out independently financed films for a few years now, and even though all of them are entertaining and incredibly well crafted, “The House of the Devil” is his best film to date. This film was released in 2009, a time when audiences were well aware of films that would become labeled as “torture porn” and included the successful “Saw” film series and Eli Roth’s “Hostel” and “Hostel Part 2”. These films, although refreshing when first introduced, soon grew stale in their formulaic approach and reliance on copious amounts of over the top gore and violence to gross out their intended audience instead of atmosphere and suspense. There is a distinct difference between feeling sick while watching something and being absolutely terrified of what lurks in the darkness, “The House of the Devil” represents the latter of the two.  With “The House of the Devil” West subverts what had commonly become known as “horror” and creates a love letter to directors who utilized suspense to truly terrify their audience while crafting the most refreshing, and best, horror film in years.

The story that West tells in “The House of the Devil” is simple; Samantha, (played by the beautiful and absolutely fantastic Jocelin Donahue) a college sophomore, needs money to rent a house off campus, but seeing as she is a college student, she is naturally short on cash. Samantha discusses her situation with her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig) over some really bad pizza and finally settles on looking for a job around campus. Samantha finds a babysitter ad and lands the job working for the Ulmans. Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan), however, informs Samantha that she will not be babysitting, but rather looking after his wife‘s mother while he and his wife watch the eclipse that is set to take place around 12:00am, something that had been present throughout the film and would be noticed as long as the viewer had been paying attention. At first Samantha is skeptical, seeing as how she was lied to, but Mr. Ulman seems so desperate and even a bit pitiful, plus a pay raise, causes Samantha to change her mind. From this point on, West crafts a film that continuously heightens in suspense, like a wire constantly being pulled until, at the right moment, snaps releasing all of its tension in a torrent of power and excitement.

Even before Samantha arrives at the Ulman’s creepy house out in the country, West is at work creating a character that his audience can relate to. By the time Samantha accepts her job from Mr. Ulman the audience knows about, and is able to become emotionally invested in, Samantha. She is a likeable college sophomore living with a sloppy college roommate with a simple goal, to be able to get out of her living situation and rent a house off campus. West allows the audience to see how upset she is with her current living situation and shows the audience how innocent Samantha is. The audience is allowed to watch as Samantha has a moment of weakness in the bathroom as she cries before gathering her strength and telling herself to “get a grip”. By not shoving Samantha into a situation where she must fight for her life the entire film, West has created a real character with emotional depth that gives the audience someone to root for. This heightens the stakes of the film because unlike other horror films with a large cast of characters without any emotional depth, Samantha is not one of seven people who will end up succumbing to some sort of torture gag simply becoming another dead body to add to a films already exuberant body count. Creating characters with depth in a work of fiction is incredibly important, and yet so many horror films do not do this. They simply rush their static characters into situations where they must fight for their lives, and without any real emotional attachment it can leave a film feeling empty and an audience wondering why they should even care what ultimately happens to any character in the film. 

Once West has Samantha in the house, his talent of creating suspense and tension truly shine. As Samantha traverses the house going from room to room, West does an effective job to make it feel like the audience is right beside her, not allowing the audience to know what is in a room before she does. If a room is dark, it stays dark until Samantha turns a light on. This technique creates such tension and suspense that, as the film progresses, it makes it almost unbearable to enter a room that does not have a light on. It also allows for the viewer to get a sense of scale of how big the house actually is. By the time she is done exploring, it seems as if Samantha is impossibly small in such a big house that it gives the audience a feeling of uneasiness. It’s as if the house has her trapped; she has become wholly engulfed inside its walls where escape is impossible. The use of the house in this film as its own character, and its sense of scale, adds a great deal too why this film works so well. The audience is allowed to become familiar with this house, but not familiar enough to where they can feel safe, familiar in the sense that they know something is not right.

As Samantha grows suspicious of the Ulmans and their story about them being the true owners of the house, Samantha stumbles upon certain objects that add to her suspicions. By this point, every time Samantha enters a room it creates a tension and a desire to not want to see what happens next. West creates an atmosphere of the unknown and in this atmosphere fear is constantly present. Although it would seem that not much has happened up until this point, the desire to yell at Samantha and demand she just run away from the house is almost overwhelming because the audience, along with Samantha, knows something is not right and something horrible could be waiting around any corner. The way West has created such tension and fear is so subtle that the audience may wonder how they arrived at such an intense feeling of fear and uneasiness. It’s as if the fear itself has slowly crawled out from the darkness and attached itself to the viewer without any warning. There have not yet been any dismembered bodies, giant monsters, or men in hockey masks, and yet the fear is palpable and almost too real. It would seem at any moment Samantha will face her demise, maybe find out who the old lady in the house is or what lies behind the locked door she could not open. West has created this feeling of horror with the practice that sometimes less is more.

The final fifteen minutes of “The House of the Devil” are truly horrifying. The tension that has been built up throughout the film is finally released and my God, what a payoff it is. The ending is perfect and represents what true horror films should set out to accomplish. Samantha and the audience have been on this journey since the beginning and it is finally time to witness its end, not matter how horrible it may be. Although it may not be an incredibly gory and gruesome affair with gallons of blood and intestines being strewn from one end of the screen to the other, West has created something realistic that makes the ending that much more cringe worthy and fear inducing in line with the rest of the film so as not to feel out of place. It is a fitting ending that is violent, terrifying, and satisfying in every way possible.

This week is we are doing a music video.  This short holds a slight bit of controversy, but fuck it we don't care, we think it's awesome.  This is one of the coolest music videos out there for it's real life/anime crossover.  It's hard to explain really but you'll see as to why people hate it soon enough.  Put politics beside you, realize this wasn't harmful to anyone, and enjoy!